How Bill de Blasio and John Liu Can Stand Up for Transit Riders

Contrary to popular belief, the mayor isn't the only elected official with a say in New York City transportation policy. So in this installment of Streetsblog's series on Michael Bloomberg's third term, we're switching things up a bit. We asked New York's most experienced transit advocate, Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, how Comptroller-elect John Liu and Public Advocate-elect Bill de Blasio can put their clout to use for New Yorkers who depend on buses and trains. Here's what he told us.

What can the incoming city comptroller and public advocate do to improve the lives of millions of daily subway and bus riders over their next four years in office?

Public Advocate-elect Bill de Blasio and Comptroller-elect John Liu.

New Yorkers can be forgiven for putting our focus on the chief executive in City Hall. Our city has what’s called a "strong mayor" form of government. Mayor Bloomberg’s budget powers are great, and virtually all of his commissioners do not have to be approved by the City Council. The mayor is often seen as the Sun King. Everyone else can seem like Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern -- not much of a stage presence.

While it's right to hold the mayor accountable for what the city does on public transportation, there's much that Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu can do on behalf of the city's commuters.

Both gentlemen took stands on key transportation issues as council members. Liu served as chair of the council’s transportation committee and de Blasio promoted the return of F express service in Brooklyn and proposed a "Transit Rider’s Bill of Rights." Additionally, Liu voted for congestion pricing, de Blasio against. Later, de Blasio favored East and Harlem River bridge tolls pegged to the subway fare to fund the MTA, which Liu opposed.

So there’s every reason to expect them to be vocal on transportation. And they’ll have plenty of opportunities to take action. To start with, millions of New York City bus riders have a big stake in the service improvements that newly appointed MTA Chair Jay Walder and Mayor Bloomberg have each made a high priority. De Blasio and Liu, if they choose, can use their new offices to help give millions of transit riders the best possible outcome as these plans advance.

Let’s start with what the public advocate can do. This office was set up to be an “ombudsperson,” which in everyday English means listening to complaints from the public and working to make sure they are resolved. In addition, the public advocate looks for patterns of problems in service delivery.

A good place for de Blasio to start would be to encourage some of the 2.4 million daily weekday bus riders to call his office. They have an earful of woes to talk about, such as slow, unreliable and crowded service. I hope that Advocate de Blasio can make cataloguing the complaints of riders a top priority. The precedent is there. Carol Bellamy, who served several years as president of the City Council (the precursor to the public advocate), was so vocal on transit that former Governor Mario Cuomo appointed her to the MTA board.

The Bloomberg administration has proposed using Bus Rapid Transit strategies on several pilot routes to quicken service and improve reliability. These include providing truly exclusive bus lanes, giving buses priority at traffic signals, designing bus stops to reduce conflicts with traffic, and having riders pay fares before board. Another ingredient -- bus-mounted cameras to enforce exclusive lanes -- may become available if Albany approves the necessary legislation.

A limited form of BRT -- called Select Bus Service -- is already in operation on the Bx12 on Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. It has reduced travel times 24 percent. Another SBS route has started on 34th Street in Midtown. And still another one is due on First and Second Avenues in Manhattan next September.

The Straphangers Campaign hopes that de Blasio uses his bully pulpit to press for picking up the pace and scope of Bus Rapid Transit routes. He can take up the cause of camera enforcement for bus lanes, helping its chances in Albany. He can also serve a mediating role to make sure the concerns of community players are taken into account without endangering the effectiveness of BRT improvements. Stakeholders include bus passengers, community leaders, bicycle riders, and small businesses. Especially in the outer boroughs, which stand to gain the most from BRT, the public advocate's independent voice will carry a lot of weight.

Comptroller Liu can come to the aid of bus riders as well, by using his audit powers to make sure BRT strategies work for New York. The comptroller is an independent elected public servant and his views on BRT will carry a different kind of weight than NYC DOT or the MTA.

Bus service, of course, is not the only transportation issue that these two citywide offices can take on. For example, outgoing comptroller Bill Thompson did a great job documenting how New York City was shortchanged on state transit aid. (See this report.) And his hard-working transit aide Joseph Rappaport keeps many important issues alive, from cuts to transit service to making the MTA more transparent.

Among possible future audits for the new comptroller to consider:

On-time performance and other official NYC Transit statistics

Reviewing the work of the new line managers

Reviewing the MTA capital program to see where it is over timeline and budget

The status of “mega-projects" like the Second Avenue Subway.

Citywide officials like the comptroller and the public advocate are automatically considered potential candidates for mayor in the next go-round. If they choose to run -- either for mayor or for re-election -- they of course will be judged on what they've done for New Yorkers, including millions of subway and bus riders.

From my observations, Bloomberg does not take well to resistance, but he wants to be seen as achieving his stated goals.

The best thing that the City Council, Public Advocate and Comptroller could do is instead of fighting Bloomberg on environmental and sustainable transportation issues would be to try to one-up him. Say that his rhetoric is not matching his actions. Hold his Commissioners to progress toward the PlaNYC goals. Criticize him for not going far enough on an issue. Call his plans small and ineffective for lack of boldness.

Start sentences with phrases like “If we really want to reduce the City’s Carbon Emissions….”

Instead of…”Group X might be inconvenienced so X project which would benefit 95% of my constituents should be stopped so I can pander to Group X’s irrational fears”

Larry Littlefield

The MTA is controlled by Albany. Albany is heading for bankruptcy.

New York City will be cutting police, fire, schools, libraries, parks, etc. — and gutting the Administration for Childrens’ Services, as it does every recession (followed by subsequent increases after a few widely publicized child deaths). And then, when Albany cuts aid, cutting these services again. And then, when pension costs soar, cutting them again.

In this context, more transit funding is coming from where? Best case, I don’t see any improvement until fiscal 2014. The worst case is really, really bad.

http://secondavenuesagas.com Benjamin Kabak

Expecting John Liu to do anything pro-transit in New York City is either naive or laughable (or perhaps both). As head of the transportation committee in the City Council, he was more pro-car than just about anyone else and showed an utter unwillingness to learn about the MTA and its operations. I’m sure his work as comptroller will be just as lacking.

Michael Bush

1. Meet with the mayor weekly to discuss your issues.
2. Be prepared to compromise, an important Bloomberg management tool.
3. Be proactive, don’t support every hack idea the Mayor opposes. Also make sure that every plan is cost effective.
4. Mr. Liu & Mr. de Blasio live in boroughs that have free access to Manhattan by car, please lower the toll on the interborough bridges, i.e. the VZ, Marine, Cross Bay, Henry Hudson, (has Liu ever been on the Henry Hudson Bridge?)
5. Have weekly meetings in the outer boroughs, don’t become Manhattanites like Betsey and Billy did.
6. Come to Staten Island, Go to the Bronx, go to the neighborhoods, visit the Libraries, and supermarkets.

This is how de Blasio and Liu can stand up for transit riders? Don’t turn it into your own personal list.

mike

How about not grandstanding and supporting congestion pricing???

http://www.uppergreenside.org Glenn

While they won office with pluralities forcing run-offs in just the primary, they had more people vote against them than for them. They have a whole lot of new constituents that didn’t vote for them. They should be humble and listen first.

Emily Litella

Thanks Gene for your timely and thoughtful article. Accountability is crucial in any large organization, which is why having public watchdogs is so important. We have come to expect little from our elected officials as they need to spend most of their time appearing to cater to loud and powerful interests holding minority opinions. These two gentlemen seem to have the potential to rise above the swamp of business as usual. Time will tell.